Hello Tello Pilot!
Join our DJI Tello community & remove this banner.
Sign up

Error code 203

I agree it is a brick in its current condition. It is just so much fun to fly around inside the house. I have a Spark a Mavic Pro and 2 Phantom 3's but they are not really good for indoors. I would fly the Tello almost every day. I did put the prop guards on the Spark yesterday and flew it in the house but it is very noisy compared to the Tello. I hope I can get a warranty repair or replacement. soon
Hi, welcome to the 203 club, over the past 4 months or so, I’ve returned 3 Tello’s for the same reason. I also own various DJI drones as well as many hobby ones, when I heard about The Tello, I was excited because of its size and stability to fly indoors.
With all three drones I’ve only run OEM, I’m not even sure you can buy aftermarket batteries for it yet , but that’s a different discussion.
Amazon was terrific, they replaced the first one, refunded for the other 2, which I had to reinvest in the Tello because I’ve already purchased 5 batteries, chargers a carrying case, and a useless app.
I was in touch with Ryze support via chat for each one and although they were very polite their efforts were useless.
As everyone knows the code refers to a non Ryze battery,, but that’s obviously not true it must cover other firmware issues.
Anyways when I fly this one I’m tense, just waiting for the ball to drop again.
I like the concept of the tello but I should of waited for Tello 2.0
 
  • Like
Reactions: P1L0T
I agree! Where is Tello_2 or at least a software/firmware update to eliminate/repair this issue. It might be the 203 error is tied to a temperature condition with a battery which is a good thing but there has to be a way to clear the error after cooling down or changing batteries. It would be fun to dig into this issue but since the drone is still under warranty i"ll let Ryze handle it. Its hard to believe if there are as many returns as there appears to be and the programmers have not addressed this issue. Oh well!

It almost acts as if a temp sensor (thermistor) has failed in the drone. Would be fun to look into but then again there's that warranty thing. Oh well! You can bet if my replacement drone fails and its out of warranty I will be tempted to open it up and take a look.

After 10 emails back and forth I finally got permission to ask for a RMA. Custom service guys were very polite and tried to be helpful but..... Clearly an issue with the drone but had to do all the things they suggested to get to the bottom of their "try this" list. Went to the link they provided to get the RMA process started.... and ..... you guessed it..... the site is under repair/updating. I cannot seem to win for losing. I'll check the site again later. Wish me luck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: P1L0T
Tello is refusing to honor the warranty. One month into ownership the firmware caused the 203 error, with all four RYZE batteries. They made us cool them down. They asked us to reload the app. Then finally, they suggested that we take it back to BestBuy who refused to take it back because they only cover it for 15 days.

And so, today, when they once again gave me the same list of stuff to try and informed me that it was against their policy to replace or refund the device, I made a new decision.

We had already purchased a second one (since they told us they were going to honor the warranty) and so I am going to see if I can use the second one to airlift the dead one (sans battery) and lower it into a spinning Vitamix. I will, of course, film this from a few camera angles and in slow motion.

I think we will edit it in with some excellent mission impossible sound effects.

Keep an eye on YouTube.
 
After 10 emails back and forth I finally got permission to ask for a RMA. Custom service guys were very polite and tried to be helpful but..... Clearly an issue with the drone but had to do all the things they suggested to get to the bottom of their "try this" list. Went to the link they provided to get the RMA process started.... and ..... you guessed it..... the site is under repair/updating. I cannot seem to win for losing. I'll check the site again later. Wish me luck.

Please let us know how it goes.

Mistakes happen in business but what a company does about them is much more telling. So far, unimpressed with Tello. Their people are friendly but feckless.
 
Hi, welcome to the 203 club, over the past 4 months or so, I’ve returned 3 Tello’s for the same reason.

How did you get them to take them back? They refuse to do that for me? They just keep giving me obstacles...
 
UPDATE:

After registering on line and getting an RMA I sent the drone in for repair. I included a copy of my invoice showing the drone was still under warranty. About 3 days later (I live close to the repair center) I received a repair notice and estimate for repair of $125.00 USD and a credit of $60.00 USD for a total repair cost of $65.00. After going back and forth with emails and one phone call Ryze finally agreed to repair my drone at $0.00 cost to me. Everyone was very polite, during the exchanges but it took one month to get things approved. UNACCEPTABLE!!!

I am not sure what exactly the 203 error is but it totally shuts the drone down and according to Ryze it requires a new motherboard. I find it's not fair to have to pay for a repair that should be covered under warranty. If your drone has a 203 error and is out of warranty my suggestion would be to get a new drone and save the old one for parts as the repair bill will exceed the cost of a new drone. Again UNACCEPTABLE!!!

I hope there is a firmware update soon that addresses this issue. In my case everything was great, several crashes into walls then falling several feet to carpet. I was flying, landed due to a low battery, exchanged the battery, flew until that battery was low, returned and landed. Charged both batteries back to full and attempted to fly again. It was then I got the 203 error. I swapped my battery and the drone flew with no error on the 2nd battery. After charging both batteries again the drone would not fly with either battery. I tried a 3rd battery and still no luck. That's when I knew it had to be sent in for repair. What confuses me is the error 203 went away but then came back. I actually suspected a bad connection somewhere but because it was under warranty I did not attempt any repairs myself. All my batteries are Tello batteries. The repaired drone flies fine using the same original "Tello" batteries.

If your drone is still under warranty fight for your rights! You should not have to pay for something that should be covered under warranty. If Ryze gets enough of these repairs they will find a solution to fix the problem.
 
I love this little drone. It's a shame it has this fatal flaw. Mine's also a brick with code 203 on 3 new Tello batteries.
 
If it is still under warranty push the issue and see if you can get it repaired at no cost. Ryze is aware of the problem and should be covering all the 203 errors without question. If it is not under warranty its a lot faster to simply replace the drone as the repair costs may be higher than the replacement plus you get another battery and spare props.

I still believe this is a software/firmware issue and Ryze needs to fix it. At the very lease Ryze needs to disable this "feature" or give us a way to reset it. Be sure to complain Ryze via email.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Icemanwbs
If it is still under warranty push the issue and see if you can get it repaired at no cost. Ryze is aware of the problem and should be covering all the 203 errors without question. If it is not under warranty its a lot faster to simply replace the drone as the repair costs may be higher than the replacement plus you get another battery and spare props.

I still believe this is a software/firmware issue and Ryze needs to fix it. At the very lease Ryze needs to disable this "feature" or give us a way to reset it. Be sure to complain Ryze via email.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.

I have been dealing with Ryze support for over a week. They keep telling me to try this and try that, which we both know won't work. It takes forever to email because they are in China (10 hours difference in time). When they email me it's 3:00 AM here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Icemanwbs
I'm sure Ryze coded their firmware to prevent use of after market batteries. This introduced a bug that caused many drones using Tello batteries to quite working. This has to be costing them much more than the lost revenue of after market batteries.
 
I have been dealing with Ryze support for over a week. They keep telling me to try this and try that, which we both know won't work. It takes forever to email because they are in China (10 hours difference in time). When they email me it's 3:00 AM here.

I also dealt with them using email. After several back and forth conversations I was able to get an RMA and send it in for a warranty repair. If they issue you an RMA be sure to wait for the free shipping label. Then I was dealing with the repair cost via email and that was even worse. I was attempting to get them to honor their warranty as they wanted to charge for the repair. I finally got tired of all the email delays and call Ryze on the phone (+1 310.616.5299). Within several hours I received an email telling me the drone will be repaired and returned at no cost. It took a month from start to finish.
 
I'm sure Ryze coded their firmware to prevent use of after market batteries. This introduced a bug that caused many drones using Tello batteries to quite working. This has to be costing them much more than the lost revenue of after market batteries.

I agree they did something to the firmware but not sure if it was an attempt to identify the batteries as there is nothing special about the batteries. There are 4 contacts on the battery but they are all related to the voltage. I believe 2 pins are for high current charging and 2 pins are a higher impedance for voltage monitoring during a charge cycle. I see nothing that could be used to ID the battery.

However if error 203 is related to the latest firmware Ryze needs to correct this ASAP as I am sure it is costing them financially as well as reputation.

I am using TellFPV as my control software (brilliant software) and I do not think it checks for firmware updates.
 
I'm running the latest firmware, so they haven't put out anything yet to address this issue. It might be a hardware problem which will be much more difficult to correct.
 
Lots of luck !! And RYZE is no help at all. There answer is always " it must be the battery "....well I've used these same 2 batteries since I purchased, never a problem....but now, 1 month out of warranty, and all the sudden I get this error ??? With NO FIX in sight ? DJI is taking a hit on there name with this BS. I'll never by another Tello..... many better options out there.
 
This proof is all DJI/RYZE should need, but dont hold your breath.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20190318-094640_TELLO.jpg
    Screenshot_20190318-094640_TELLO.jpg
    464.5 KB · Views: 16
  • Screenshot_20190318-094729_TELLO.jpg
    Screenshot_20190318-094729_TELLO.jpg
    446.8 KB · Views: 17
I loved flying this little drone indoors waiting on the weather to gets better so I could fly my real drone outside. It's a shame it only lasted less than 2 months. I did not get my moneys worth out of it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Icemanwbs
I loved flying this little drone indoors waiting on the weather to gets better so I could fly my real drone outside. It's a shame it only lasted less than 2 months. I did not get my moneys worth out of it.

Have you tried calling Ryze on the phone? Here is their number if you are located in the USA 1 310.616.5299. I was able to get mine repaired/replaced. Don't give up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Icemanwbs
Have you tried calling Ryze on the phone? Here is their number if you are located in the USA 1 310.616.5299. I was able to get mine repaired/replaced. Don't give up.
Have you tried calling Ryze on the phone? Here is their number if you are located in the USA 1 310.616.5299. I was able to get mine repaired/replaced. Don't give up.
I worked with Ryze for over a week by email. Try this, try that, but nothing worked, I recently sent it to Ryze support but from I hear it takes a month and they try to bill you for the repair. Did they charge you for the repair? Did you have Error Code 203?
 

New Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
5,690
Messages
39,934
Members
17,023
Latest member
Repiv

New Posts